#085, In Practice, Sept/Oct 2002

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT

IN PRACTICE

in this Issue

Providing the link between a healthy environment and a sound economy SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2002 NUMBER 85

Evolving with Your Holistic Goal

by Ann Adams

I

don’t know about you, but I think one of the biggest challenges in life is to not live it in a rut. I am notoriously fond of routine myself, and as a parent I cannot praise highly enough the importance of routine in "successfully" raising a child (i.e., the child comes out as a decent human being and the parent manages to feel like a decent human being in the process). But, it seems to me there is a big difference between a rut and a routine.

meeting your needs, you’re in a rut. The amazing thing about ruts is you can go along each day doing your routine, then one day you wake up and wonder how you got into this deep trench that you can barely peer out of. That’s the dangerous part of routines. They can lull you to sleep, keep you from questioning why you are doing what you’re doing, and worst of all, keep you from your intended outcomes. That’s where a holistic goal helps.

Warning! Rut Ahead!

An Evolutionary Process

I think a rut is when someone’s routine has become more important than the results the routine was developed to create. For example, if I create an after school ritual for my son and I and it is fulfilling to both of us, that’s great. But if one or both of us change (it has been known to happen) through circumstances or the mysterious process called human development, then that routine is going to feel like a rut if we don’t adapt it to our current needs and interests.

Everyone has routines. Routines provide stability and order in our lives (something most of us crave, perhaps even more than our obsessions, which after any honeymoon period become merely routine anyway). But, people’s routines evolve from a number of different sources.

Most of the time routines are based on convenience, the path of least resistance. For example, where I shop or do business is often a matter of location and ease, which is why the internet is so exciting with it’s lure of 24/7 shopping. If a routine isn’t convenient, then it’s usually based on a different value, like shopping at a less convenient store because it sells locally grown produce. Or someone might have a gardening routine that isn’t as convenient as shopping, but it fulfills other needs besides acquisition of food, such as contact with nature.

There are no right answers to what is a good routine or what is a good decision about how you meet your needs, but I can guarantee you that if you find yourself in a routine that isn’t

I’ve noticed that when I’ve taken time to write something down and spent a considerable amount of time discerning what is important to me, I feel rather hypocritical if I don’t do something to move toward that which I value. I wrote my first holistic goal six years ago. I revised it probably two years later. I don’t look at it often, but I think a lot about it when I’m driving and particularly when my conscience is bothering me.

In my mind, I made a covenant with myself that I could and would live my life based on what was important to me. I would develop routines that created the outcome I had described.

Living a life with integrity was not a new idea at the time. My parents had modeled their own routines for that and instilled a strong moral code in me, but I have noticed a definite shift in my ability to live a life I valued since writing my holistic goal. As each of the writers in this issue note, there is something about having that guiding focus that turns everything up a notch.

The holistic goal is one more tool to add to whatever else you’ve learned to achieve success, however you define it. I have found it invaluable in helping me form routines that constantly evolve around my values and achieving the results (health, loving relationships, prosperity, etc.) that they were developed to produce. I still find myself at the bottom of a rut in dazed disbelief, but now I’m more likely to take a moment to laugh at myself and figure a way out than to rail at the situation. That’s a routine I’d like to keep.

The holistic goal is the heart of Holistic Management as it drives our decisionmakin g, planning, and monitoring. But it takes commitment to gather the decisionmakers and to write it down. In her story on page 6, Chandler McLay describes the challenges and rewards she faced in forming her holistic goal and in moving to ward it.

Testing the Tool of Marriage Tony Malmberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Beyond the Budget—Using Our Holistic Goal for Financial Planning Craig & Sue Lani Madsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Power of a Holistic Goal Chandler McLay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

LAND & LIVESTOCK— A special section of IN PRACTICE Coming Home to Colorado—A Sense of Place Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Persistence Pays Jim Howell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Savory Center Forum

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Savory Center Bulletin Board Marketplace

. . . . . . .15

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management Ad definitum finem

The ALLAN SAVORY CENTER FOR HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. The center works to restore the vitality of communities and the natural resources on which they depend by advancing the practice of Holistic Management and coordinating its development worldwide.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rio de la Vista, Chair Ann Adams, Secretary Manuel Casas, Treasurer Gary Rodgers Allan Savory

ADVISORY BOARD Robert Anderson, Chair, Corrales, NM Sam Brown, Austin, TX Leslie Christian, Portland, OR Gretel Ehrlich, Gaviota, CA Clint Josey, Dallas, TX Doug McDaniel, Lostine, OR Guillermo Osuna, Coahuila, Mexico Bunker Sands, Dallas, TX York Schueller, El Segundo, CA Jim Shelton, Vinita, OK Richard Smith, Houston, TX

FOUNDERS Allan Savory Jody Butterfield

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT Mary Child, Regional Program Development Coordinator

STAFF Shannon Horst, Executive Director; Kate Bradshaw, Associate Director; Kelly Pasztor, Director of Educational Services; Lee Dueringer, Director of Development; Ann Adams, Managing Editor, IN PRACTICE and Membership and Educator Support Coordinator , Craig Leggett, Special Projects Manager; Ann Reeves, Bookkeeper.

Africa Centre for Holistic Management Private Bag 5950, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe tel: (263) (11) 213529; email: rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw Huggins Matanga, Director; Roger Parry, Manager, Regional Training Centre; Elias Ncube, Hwange Project Manager/Training Coordinator

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE (ISSN: 1098-8157) is published six times a year by The Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505/842-5252, fax: 505/843-7900; email: savorycenter@holisticmanagement. org.; website: www.holisticmanagement.org Copyright © 2002.

2 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #85

Testing the Tool of Marriage

by Tony Malmberg

I

came to my first Holistic Management course because I heard you could double your stocking rate. The instructors threw me off balance right from the get-go when they started talking about “quality of life.” In my culture one earned the right to live on the land by hard work and suffering.

But I tolerated the gibberish until we got to the ecosystem processes and time and management guidelines, which made a lot of sense to me. I particularly noted the advice not to go home and build fences until I had a plan, but to focus on setting a holistic goal.

A New Perspective Defining the whole under management, including the community, stuck in my craw.

I could see the wisdom behind the principle, but my current community consisted of my neighbor ranchers.

However, the nearest town, Lander, Wyoming, was home to many other kinds of people, including environmentalists. We usually ignored that type and their values, while we planned for a cowboy world. Over many years of inner turmoil, I recognized that the whole community means acknowledging the values of business people, schoolteachers, stockbrokers, artists, rock climbers, bird watchers, and environmentalists, in addition to cowboys.

Once I acknowledged that their values are just as legitimate as mine and got to know them, I began to see that we had much in common. We wanted good schools for our children, a warm and comfortable home for our family, and opportunity for a secure future. At first this paradox caused confusion, like change does. My need to

express the person I was becoming in a more diverse community pulled against my past. Until I could reconcile my new realizations of community, I would be in a state of flux.

Capturing An Audience But, over time my behavior, actions and talk aligned with my subconscious and my changing community more and more. And as I evolved, I began to accept speaking invitations about my new perspective.

One speaking engagement was in Bozeman, Montana on the changing West, where I was drawn to an attractive woman in the audience, but I did not get a chance to meet her.

A couple of months later, a woman wrote me a letter after hearing me on the Yellowstone Public Radio program, “Home Ground.” On the program I talked about how I had changed the management of our ranch, but, more importantly, how I now defined my larger community. I explained why I thought ranchers and environmentalists had much in common.

This woman worked for the Montana Consensus Council, which worked at solving conflict. Many of the conflicts she worked on involved agriculture and environmentalists. In her letter she said she liked what I had to say and encouraged me to keep up the good work. I thought little of the letter, but forwarded it to my friend Brian Kahn, the host of the radio program.

I met Brian a couple of years before when he was evaluating different programs for The Nature Conservancy. We connected in our mutual understanding of the environmentalist-rancher debate. As soon as Brian received the copy of Andrea’s letter he called me. “Tony. Tony. You need to pay attention. Andrea is really a great woman.

She has the ability to make a living and

Andrea asked: “Did you test me or the institution of marriage?”

her dad is a cattle buyer.”

I trusted Brian and his judgment on this matter, so I wrote a casual letter to Andrea.

The letters accelerated until we were writing one per day. In April I called Andrea and told her I was about to begin my grazing season, and I wanted to come meet her faceto-face before then. She invited me to dinner at her home in Helena, Montana. After an eight-hour drive, I found her house and knocked on the door. When she answered the door I said, “You’re the woman I was unabashedly flirting with during the Bozeman talk!” Despite, or perhaps because of, that introductory comment, our relationship continued to flourish from there.

Passing the Test I was still mulling over the decision to marry Andrea, when we took a trip to visit Andrea’s friends in Washington. During the trip, our conversation turned to an intimate nature and I learned one more critical piece of information about Andrea that sealed my fate. At that point I let slip the comment, “Well, I guess you passed all of the testing questions.” Andrea replied, “What do you mean?”

I explained that my friend and fellow holistic manager Todd Graham and I had already tested the action of me marrying Andrea toward my holistic goal. Andrea was appalled. “Did you test me or the institution of marriage?” she asked. I hesitated, but then explained.

(I know this might be slightly different from the way the testing questions are usually used, but this is really what I did).

1. Sustainability—We determined that Andrea’s skills, knowledge, and values would enrich my future resource base and that she would flourish within a combined future resource base. Passed.

2. Weak Link—How will the marriage address the weak link? The ranch had addressed the energy conversion weak link. After increasing our yield by 80%, marketing was our weak link. Andrea would add to our ability to market the unrealized assets of the whole under management. Passed.

Holistic Management gave me a wife!

this one, and my conversation with Andrea on our trip addressed this concern. My mindset, at this point in my life, was of the foot-loose and fancy-free bachelor. My goal may have been best described as a wanna3. Gross Profit Analysis—This one was easy. be-playboy, which was better in my Not only would Andrea bring the ability to imagination than in reality. Getting married market latent assets but she also brought would limit the possibilities for achieving an income with her conflict resolution this goal. Failed. consulting business. Passed.

My conversation with Todd around this 4. Cause and Effect—One factor that was test brought much laughter and “guy” talk, adversely affecting the ranch revolved but Todd and I knew that even when a around how I meshed with my changing tool or action fails one test it can still pass community. I needed to avoid advocate overall. Andrea’s comments on the trip suggested to me that perhaps I had looked too narrowly at this test and that, in fact, marriage to Andrea passed this test as well.

I knew that marriage to Andrea would develop who I was and strengthen my community dynamics. By that I mean that commitment to this relationship would increase my diversity and complexity as a person, while pursuit of a playboy fantasy (staying single) would result in a lower successional human being.

Our marriage has allowed us to manage holistically in a way we would not have been able to if we were apart. We further Andrea and Tony Malmberg—a match fully tested. challenge each other to more clearly define and articulate our values. This leads us to see our community and ourselves in organizations that focused on outsiders a new light. I am a more diverse and being the problem and embrace complex person as a result of Andrea collaboration with different interests in being my wife. my changing community. What better way Holistic Management gave me an to do this than marry a consensus navigator? awareness of quality of life that has given Passed. my efforts more direction. I have more 5. Marginal Reaction—Andrea shared purpose. My convictions and actions are less my values from land management to influenced by “peer pressure.” In fact community. By being one with her, she ignoring the peer pressure allowed me to would constantly test my actions against differentiate my “self” enough for my wife our values. Passed. to notice me in the first place. In essence, 6. Energy and Money Source and Use—What Holistic Management gave me a wife! form of energy is more renewable than the power of love? Passed.

Tony and Andrea Malmberg manage 7. Society and Culture—This guideline tests all the Twin Creek Ranch near Lander, actions for how they will lead to the quality Wyoming. They can be reached at 307/335of life we desire. Todd and I struggled on 7485 or tony@rangewise.com

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2002 3

Beyond the Budget—

Using Our Holistic Goal for Financial Planning

by Craig and Sue Lani Madsen

S

omeone once said—if you don’t know where you’re going, you will never get there. We were married in October 1995 and started incorporating Holistic Management as part of our family life. We developed a holistic goal for our family, although we hadn’t quite got the hang of testing or financial planning yet. The biggest return on the time we invested in our holistic goal was in the relative smoothness with which we charted our course through potentially troubled waters—new marriage, parenting/stepparenting a daughter starting college, buying property, designing and building a house, starting a new business, coming to the aid of our daughter after a fire at her apartment, a brother’s illness, a daughter’s wedding—just a few of life’s little stresses. Creating our holistic goal together meant that we knew where we wanted to be individually, as a couple, and as part of our families and community. It gave direction to our decisions.

We each have a slightly different view about how we came to practice Holistic Management so we’re going to take turns telling our story.

Craig: When Sue Lani decided to start her own business in 1997, we knew that our income was going to drop significantly that year (about 30 percent). This change gave us an additional incentive to develop a holistic financial plan. Part of our plan included finding a financial advisor to help us with our investments. Despite the potential financial stress that change in our lives could have been, we actually had a very positive outcome because of Holistic Management.

Our financial advisor’s summary of the changes from the beginning of 1997 to

4 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #85

the end of 2000 shows that our financial situation changed in the following ways: • Income increased by 10% • Expenses dropped by 8% • Savings increased by 44% • Liabilities decreased by 15% • Net worth increased by 60%

Craig and his “healing hoo ves” at work.

Craig and Sue Lani: After monitoring our progress towards our holistic goal for a couple of years, it became easier to see the value of using the financial planning process.

“Planning the planning” sometimes is the stumbling block for us. We both maintain busy schedules, and finding a weekend where neither of us has some commitment or deadline hanging over us can be difficult.

We have to make an appointment with each other and stick with it, just like we would for anything worth doing.

The cartoon style flow chart developed

by Rio de la Vista and Daniela Howell (see illustration on page 5) has been our best reference. The fluid style of the chart reinforces the need to bring human creativity to the process. It’s not about spreadsheets and numbers, those are merely tools.

Spending time focusing on how to use our available resources to live the life we

want is truly quality time.

Sue Lani: I admit I was reluctant to get into the whole process at first. Why not just budget whatever we spent last year as our budget for the new year? So what if everything creeps up a little, we’ll manage.

Being an optimist can be financially dangerous! I was forced to take it seriously when I wanted to quit a secure job for self-employment.

We wouldn’t have the luxury of two regular paychecks to protect us from mistakes. Practicing architecture as a solo act is an unpredictable proposition at best. Craig kept pushing me to develop a business plan and figure out what kind of income we could expect. I rather defiantly wrote a holistic goal for my practice, and used it along with basic small business planning principles to set my targets for income and expense. At that point, I was using his process because he thought it was important.

Craig: It has always been important for me to spend my money wisely and invest for my retirement. Holistic Management broadened my perspective and increased my awareness of how important it is to use my time and money in a manner that is consistent with our holistic goal. I felt strongly that we needed to develop a Holistic Management® Financial Plan because I knew it would enable us to move quickly toward our holistic goal. Sue Lani was somewhat reluctant, but the significant change we were facing helped to convince her we needed to do some serious financial planning. In order to attain our holistic goal we need to be financially secure and debt free.

As a result of forming our holistic goal, our initial focus was to reduce our debt, put

money into retirement and develop a cash reserve for emergencies. After spending time discussing priorities and clarifying our holistic goal, we were able to focus our spending on what was important to us. Sue Lani already mentioned we did not do the monitoring as timely as we should have, but our increased awareness of our needs versus our desires helped us maintain financial security.

Craig and Sue Lani: The next challenge, after re-examining our holistic goal and creating a financial plan was the monitoring.

It is so easy to put it off. Once again, we realized we had to make an appointment for monitoring. We kept careful track over the first two years of the new business, monitoring and adjusting. There is power in feeling and being responsible for your own finances. Our dollars were doing what we wanted them to do.

Sue Lani: I have to admit I was actually a

bit surprised at how well it worked, and I became an advocate for the process. It was no longer just something I was interested in because it was important to Craig; it’s important to me too. It became our financial planning process. It also became a part of growing my business to add three partners and six staff members in the last three years.

Craig: Now that Sue Lani’s business is doing well and my level of frustration with my job has continued to grow, we are planning another shift. I have resigned from my government job and started my own business. The adventure bug bites again.

These changes will temporarily impact our financial situation. We decided this backward step is a minor sacrifice in comparison to our mental health and the desire to do the work that gets our inner fires burning. Holistic Management® Financial Planning will enable us to make this transition in a manner that

keeps us financially secure.

Craig and Sue Lani: We quoted some statistics at the beginning of this article, and they show success as measured financially.

It’s not the whole story. With Craig leaving a secure job and launching his own business, we know that financially this will set us “back.” Measured against the whole picture of our holistic goal, this move will set us forward. The control that we have achieved through using the financial planning process gives us the freedom to make sure that our time is spent as effectively as our money in terms of our holistic goal.

Success is addictive!

Craig & Sue Lani Madsen live in Edwall, Washington. Craig is a Certified Educator and can be reached at madsen2fir@mindspring.com or 509/236-2451.

Certified Educators Rio de la Vista and Daniela Ho well developed these Holistic Management Financial Planning flow charts as part of their training in 1994. While some of the terminology has changed, they still provide a nice visual of the financial planning process.

Due to space constraints we were only able to publish the first two pages of this four page set.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2002 5

The Power of a Holistic Goal

by M. Chandler McLay

S

ome people take several years to begin practicing Holistic Management after they listen to an overview by Allan Savory or read the book, Holistic Management . But my experience was a little different.

I joined Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, Texas in April 1995 as their Education Director. In May I met Allan Savory, and in June, Fossil Rim sent me to the Holistic Management® Certified Educator Training Program. That string of events brought many new insights to Fossil Rim and me, and I have truly enjoyed my continued learning with other educators and the Savory Center. But best of all, I’m living a life that feels balanced and fulfilled, a life I’ve described in my holistic goal.

First Steps Fossil Rim, a multi-level complex encompassing about 1600 acres (648 ha), has facilities to care for several hundred animals from around the world with a primary focus on threatened and endangered species. To support the costs of such a project, it has accommodations for dining, lodging, retail sales, education, veterinary care, research, and international outreach to the countries from which many of the animals are native.

In 1995 when I joined the staff, the number one concern at Fossil Rim was financial planning. Every individual and every department had to do major soul searching and house cleaning. This was an enormous task and it flushed many frustrations to the surface. Fears of change, worry about job security, management hierarchies, and territorial chess had to be addressed. This was a challenge for both Fossil Rim and the Savory Center as they helped us practice Holistic Management.

The one area that everyone was in total agreement was the need for the facility to become financially independent. It had to make its own way. Within that first year there were nearly insurmountable challenges. Stress was high, yet those of us who chose to sail the course witnessed the value of using Holistic Management® Financial Planning.

Within a year and a half of careful financial

6 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #85

planning, Fossil Rim turned the numbers toward profit. (see IN PRACTICE #61).

Getting to this point was a rough journey.

In the last several years prior to introducing Holistic Management to Fossil Rim many changes in management style had been attempted. The idea of more changes appeared to tweak nerves, fears, or feelings of insecurity among many staff members, yet knowledge that financial difficulties were serious, moved even the reluctant to push past their personal resistance and come to the meetings willing to at least listen.

Once I had my holistic goal tight, I began to move toward it with very little effort.

Taking the Plunge Initially we met in four groups, two on one day, and two the following day (a whole staff meeting was difficult due to the need for coverage in all departments).

We introduced the concept of Holistic Management, the development of a holistic goal, and began with quality of life brainstorming then moved on to the forms of production and future resource base. A few days later we organized an evening meeting and brought the whole staff together where we reviewed all the input.

This whole group was divided into three smaller groups. Each group worked on synthesizing the material from the four individual meetings. One group worked with the quality of life statements, another with forms of production, and the third with the future resource base.

When each group felt their material represented the sentiments of the whole, we came together again as one group to make whatever additional changes individuals felt would improve any of the parts. We also had put together a statement of purpose, and defined the whole under management in the

same way. When we posted the temporary holistic goal, it appeared everyone felt good about it.

With this temporary holistic goal in hand, department heads began serious meetings on financial planning. During those initial planning meetings, modifications were made to the temporary holistic goal. I believe the intent was good, yet I observed many of the general staff objecting to changes being made by the department heads without their input.

To address this agitation, more whole staff meetings were put together and we made additional changes to the holistic goal.

From my perspective, the new holistic goal became too long. There was too much to remember and/or relate to, and grievances began to appear around the bulk of paper work developing, and the difficulty of understanding what we were testing toward.

For that reason I would caution against excessively lengthy documents.

The Key Having gone through these times of stress and movement into Holistic Management, I have come to believe the most vital step in Holistic Management is the development of a holistic goal. During the stress that developed over changes in Fossil Rim’s initial temporary holistic goal, department heads were encouraged to write out their own holistic goal, so they would be clear when we had whole staff meetings. Without the clarity of putting thoughts into concrete from, it is easy to waver or become fuzzy in the path of conflict and that fuzziness easily leads to personal squabbles.

I had written out my own holistic goal, and I found peace even in the turmoil of change and resistance. I could easily hold my space with clarity and continue to move toward my quality of life desires, which were also similar to those of other staff members.

It was with this peace that I chose to give our docents an introductory course in Holistic Management. I carefully reviewed the pitfalls we had run into as a whole staff at Fossil Rim (monitored) and felt individual understanding must come before group understanding (adjusted), and determined many difficulties diminished when the initial learning is self-related. Thus, after introducing the development of a holistic goal to the docents, I had each member go off and develop an individual temporary holistic goal. When we came together again, we had questions and

answers then moved into developing a balance in my life. I was working holistic goal for the Fossil Rim docents. ridiculously long hours, and I was finding it We had a great time with lots of laughter difficult to fit in recreation, meditation, or and little or no resistance. Each person was writing and reading. I began to recognize clear individually. Because the docents patterns of work and feelings of obligation were aware of the value of having their that kept me from fully attaining my quality individual needs met, it was a short, of life. Although I was thoroughly enjoying cooperative step to finding means to meet my work, and found much fulfillment with everyone’s needs. my surroundings and the many people I Based on this experience, I now met daily, I was “putting off for tomorrow” prefer to start an introduction to Holistic many of the experiences I wished to have.

Management with individuals working out their personal holistic goal before putting together a group, organization, or family holistic goal. It is here that focus and clarity on what is personally important to you begins the journey toward having your desires met. I stress this because there have been several times in my life when I have dreamed, imagined, and believed I was clear with myself about my direction and desires.

In reality, I only had a direction.

For example, I knew I wanted more personal time, yet without Chandler, with some of her wilderness journey staff, enjoying clarifying or writing down what her work. that meant, I kept on with workaholic behaviors. Only when I wrote down my holistic goal and I wanted more traveling, writing, and posted it where I saw it everyday, did I reading. I wanted more time in the realize how easily I had been ignoring my wilderness working spiritually with myself real wants while performing what I felt was and groups. I wanted to be living on my necessary for someone else, or some own place growing organic food, and being organization. master of my own schedule. I realized that I had good intentions for myself, yet to be true to myself, I must make some often got side tracked. Holding an idea in major changes. my head was not moving me closer to it.

I worked a year at finding a replacement Writing it and seeing it, moved me toward at Fossil Rim and assisting a smooth living it. I realized I could think, have great transition. During that year, I also made time ideas, and believe I had a holistic goal, but to become a licensed massage therapist as a until I put it in writing, I only had a fuzzy first step toward allowing me to set my own concept, not a clear focus. time schedule. I already had several skills that The fascinating outcome is that once I would allow me to be independent, and had my holistic goal tight, I began to move massage therapy created an opportunity for toward it with very little effort. That is, “Have table will travel.” It was the additional simply having a clear focus allows the tool, combined with my background in process to begin. Yes, I had to set up forms health, wilderness, counseling, and education, of production and do my planning, but that would provide me an income stream now my focus, my holistic goal , kept me during the transition toward fulfilling my on track. holistic goal.

I moved back to Colorado and began a Time for a Change massage practice and revived work with wilderness trips, and family counseling. I Facing my holistic goal every morning have written several articles, do staff awakened me to the fact I did not have

trainings, and travel frequently. The areas of work I am now doing are not new; I simply have now organized them to my advantage.

After two years of living close to my holistic goal, I could still feel a gnawing tap-tap. I was living in a condo, and although I planted some trees and flowers in my yard, I had no space to develop an organic garden. I wanted to get my hands in the soil. Thus, I sold my condo and am now searching for land suitable for organic gardening where I can further develop my future community.

Do I have it all together?

No. Is that all right? Yes. I have a much more balanced life. When I am doing counseling, or working in the field with wilderness groups, I may have 12- to 24-hour days, yet as an independent contractor, I can work out blocks of time to travel, read, write, plan, set up massage appointments, or give myself a vacation.

This type of scheduling also allows me to be picky about my search for a new home. I am taking my time knowing I can select it without consideration about how it will please someone else. I do need to be conscientious about the cost as I choose to be unencumbered by debt.

Having searched for about a year, I am feeling an eagerness to get nested. Yet, I remain patient because the journey and the adventure in moving harmoniously with my own clear holistic goal and spiritual values is a blessing I am enjoying; it’s one I strongly recommend.

I make time to hike, write, read, and enjoy this wonderful planet and its many diverse life forms. I laugh more with my friends, and get tickled with the antics of my dog and cats. With more balance in my choices, I feel blessed and supported in all that I do. Getting clearly focused and writing out my holistic goal has allowed me to move mindfully toward all the things that bring quality to my life.

Chandler McLay is a Certified Educator currently residing in Colorado.

She can be reached at: mcchand@msn.com; P.O. Box 262, Dolores, CO 81323; 970/882-8802.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2002 7

LAND&LIVESTOCK A Special Section of

IN PRACTICE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2002

#85

Coming Home to Colorado—

A Sense of Place

Jim and his “incredible wife,” Daniela, romancing the next generation—Savanna—on the Ho well Place.

by Jim Howell

I

believe that human beings need to have a sense of place. For most of our history, humans were essentially confined to the geographical boundaries of the water catchment in which their tribe or clan hunted and gathered. Even after the domestication of the horse and the beginning of agriculture, most of us seldom ventured beyond the limits of our village environs. Imagine how intimate those hunters, gatherers, herders, and early day farmers were with every minute detail of the landscape in which they made their living. Their beliefs, identities, language, values, customs, games, stories, livelihoods—indeed, their entire culture—were directly tied to the land, to every bend in the creek, every sweet spot in the grassy meadow, every shady grove, every rock and boulder. They knew their land. It was there their place.

In today’s ridiculously fast-paced and hyper-mobile world, most of us don’t even know what species of grass grows in our front yard, how old the trees are that line the street, or even how much annual rainfall our neighborhood can expect to receive over the course of a year. Even those of us making our living on the land are typically ignorant of nature’s intricacies.

But so what? Why do we need to know, understand, appreciate, and truly value the details, the nuances, of our surroundings? Why must we have a sense of place? I think that to deeply know something is to love it. When we love something, we do all that’s in our power to ensure its well being, to nurture it toward its highest potential. When we have a sense of place, we love our place. If we each love our places, the human race will endure.

That’s a lot of poetic rambling. What I’m really trying to do here is set the stage for the rest of this article, because it’s about my place, my family’s place, my ancestors’ place.

This and a series of future articles will highlight the ranches that host the Savory Center’s Ranch and Rangeland Manager Training Program.

My family’s ranch in western Colorado is one of those places.

A Little Howell History My great grandfather and four of his brothers moved to Colorado’s western slope in the 1880s—straight from the lush pastures of southern

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England. They were carpenters in the old world, but came to the newly opened West hoping to become ranchers and farmers. Only two persisted: my great granddad George, and great, great uncle John. The rest eventually headed home for the familiarities of England. That was their place. John never raised a family, so George’s line (of which my daughter Savanna is the most recent arrival) is the only Colorado survivor.

Sometime around 1912, George eventually settled in Bostwick Park, an irrigated farming community just east of the town of Montrose. They raised wheat, barley, alfalfa, and lots of potatoes, and ran sheep in the surrounding mountains in the summer. My granddad Gilbert grew up there, as did my dad, Jim. In 1937, Gilbert had managed to put together sufficient resources to purchase four sections (one section is 640 acres, or 260 ha) of mountain pasture. Two sections were ten miles (16 km) up the state highway from Bostwick Park, averaging about 7,700 feet (2,350 m) above sea level. That part of the ranch has always been called Cerro, which means small mountain in Spanish. The other two sections were 15 miles further east, and nearly 2,000 feet (610 m) higher, and it was dubbed The Blue. The diversified cropping and livestock ranch was good to my family. They didn’t get rich, but they survived and led meaningful lives for many years.

My granddad Gilbert was a bit of a slave driver, however, and my dad, being an only child, got his butt worked from the time he was four till the day he left for college. Unfortunately, my granddad never heard Joel Salatin’s spiel about “romancing the next generation into agriculture.” When my dad received a scholarship to play football at the University of Colorado, he left the ranch for good. He majored in physical education and minored in history, and ended up landing a job as a schoolteacher and coach in Orange County, California, after graduation. At that point Orange County was mostly citrus groves, dairy farms, and strawberry fields. By the time I came along in 1968, it was major suburbia.

Back in Colorado, with no heir apparent, my granddad reluctantly sold his cows and the farm in Bostwick Park, but held onto three of the four sections of mountain summer pasture, which he began leasing to

area ranchers. My dad and mom were both school teachers, which freed us up to head back to the high country during each summer vacation. From my very earliest memories, The Blue and Cerro were my places. During the school year in California, I longed to be back in the mountains, and I loathed the artificial surroundings of the Los Angeles basin. I dreamed constantly of reestablishing the Howell family back in Colorado.

good rainfall summer and the snow stays away, can last into midNovember. Up until the summer of 2001, we ran primarily yearling cattle on the gain for $.25 to $.27/pound. With the neighbor’s irrigated place, we managed to pull 500 yearling equivalents through each season, but with variable results. The years of 1998 and 2000 saw pretty scarce rainfall, especially the latter, and we learned that even with good grazing planning, it’s tough to get great gains on growing steers without a little help from Mother Nature. Those bad years saw gains of 1.3 to 1.5 New Beginnings pounds/day (about .6 kg) over a 125-day season. In the good years of ‘97 and ‘99, gains were right at 2 pounds (just under 1 kg). Without In 1996, at the age of 27, I had graduated from college, married my careful grazing planning, we’re sure those tough years would have been incredible wife, Daniela, and managed farms and ranches in regions even tougher. Like most of our neighbors, we’d have run out of grass a ranging from the Mediterranean-climate coast of California to non-brittle lot quicker and been shipping in August instead of October. east Texas to the Chihuahua Desert of southwestern New Mexico.

The last two years we’ve been running cow/calf pairs for two Daniela and I had also traveled extensively through Africa, South different owners, getting paid on a per-pair/month basis. Potential America, New Zealand, and Australia, studying and learning from some income isn’t as great as with yearlings in the good years, but it’s a lot of the world’s great grassland managers, most of them successful better than with yearlings in the bad years. Not having to worry about practitioners of Holistic Management. In 1996, the lease term on our “whether the yearlings are gaining” minimizes our stress levels, too. From ranch in Colorado was also expiring, and Daniela and I decided we an economic standpoint of production/acre, we are doing well. We are were ready to branch out on our own and take over, to once again running close to five times the stocking rate permitted on adjacent make The Blue and Cerro “The Howell Place.” public land grazing permits, It was the biggest, and two to three times what most consciously holistic our neighbors on private decision we had made so land are supporting. far as a couple. Without We use a lot of the clarity of purpose we permanent and portable gained from our holistic electric fence in our grazing goal, and without the skills management. We keep gained from practicing grazing periods short— Holistic Management on half a day to three days the Savory Center’s usually—and stock density learning site, the High as high as practicality allows Lonesome Ranch, we (around 10 to 20 stock units probably never would have per acre on the dryland made that jump. Our ranch areas, and about 40 per acre is small—just under 2,000 on the irrigated ground). acres (800 ha)—and is Our ranch is fairly brittle, covered in deep snow for Participants in the Center’s 2001 Ranch and Rangeland Manager Training Program cold steppe/alpine grassland half the year. Cerro is having a discussion on riparian management at Little Blue Creek, up on The Blue. sort of country. We have lucky to receive 14 inches predictable spring green (355 mm) of precipitation up on very high quality in a year. The Blue might perennial cool season grasses after snowmelt, but spring and summer get 20 inches (500 mm), but only has about 100 frost-free days a year. precipitation is typically erratic and minimal, which keeps growth rates We no longer had the valley farm to grow hay and cash crops, so how slow and forage accumulation difficult. Because of those tough were we going to make a living? conditions, we can’t plan to graze our non-irrigated, dryland pastures Six years later, we’re still in the process of figuring that out, but more than once during the growing season, because our grasses just without the confidence instilled in us by Holistic Management, we don’t fully recover from a severe defoliation within the same year. Our most likely never would have tried to figure it out in the first place, monitoring is telling us that up to two years of recovery may be and my lifelong dream would have gone unrealized. We officially took periodically necessary to build up a bank of older organic matter to over in 1997, so this summer marks our sixth year back on the ranch. serve as a source of litter. To that end, each year we now plan to give For the past four years, we have also leased our neighbor’s 300-acre 20 percent of the ranch the entire year off, which results in a two-year (121-ha) flood-irrigated ranch, and are actively trying to lease more recovery period. This 20 percent will vary from year to year, so that over neighbors’ places. We’ve been able to turn a profit each year with the course of five years, each pasture will have been able to experience three main enterprises—custom cattle grazing, big game outfitting, and this extended recovery period. small-scale forestry.

High Country Grazing Planning Our grazing season begins in late May/early June and, if it’s been a

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A Sense of Place

mixed in with good food and wine and lively campfire storytelling.

Those three enterprises keep us pretty busy, but we are slowly expanding into a fourth—wilderness camping retreats and educational seminars. We have run four “practicums” so far (in the areas of policy, Trees, Hunts, and Retreats business planning, facilitation, and team work), bringing Holistic Management educators, practitioners, and enthusiasts together at our In addition to moving cows, fences, and water, we also spend quite a summer camp for three days of intense learning. The Savory Center held bit of time managing our forest on The Blue. We have mixed stands of its first Ranch and Rangeland Manager Training Program at our camp aspen, Engleman spruce, blue spruce, sub alpine fir, and Douglas fir. My last year and is coming back this year. A new addition to our camping granddad Gilbert had the occasional logging crew come in and spot log facilities—which already included an outdoor kitchen, shower, deluxe through the years, but they mostly pulled out the big Doug fir trees, outhouse, and hot water—is the new cabaña or banda we are building leaving the rest behind. Without occasional fire or severe browsing by out of our spruce and aspen. The new banda , and in fact the whole wild or domestic herbivores, however, forest stands in this part of the camp setting, has been inspired by our adventures to safari camps in world soon become overgrown and stagnant. This was the case on most eastern and southern Africa. of our forested ground when we took over in ‘97—lots of small to We typically have several groups of friends and family come for medium sized spruce and fir and very little to no understory. The only visits during the summer. We work them into our daily ranch job exception was a 200-acre (81 ha) patch that burned in the 1920s and is routine, go for occasional now dominated by aspen exploratory hikes, and go with a fantastic understory fishing in the evening. of grasses, sedges, and forbs.

They frequently claim their The rest of it, however, getaway to our place is a needed some major work, summer highlight, and that so we have been selectively they’d expect to pay for cutting each year to move that sort of experience the forest closer to our anywhere else. So we’re landscape description, to going to take their advice create a more valuable and start to market our understory grazing and camp and ranch as a rustic browsing resource for cattle ranch vacation destination. and wildlife, and to earn We are only planning to some solar dollars. attract four or five groups The first three years we per summer for up to a contracted a small logging week at a time. We deeply crew to come in and do value our private family the job for us. We hired Cattle after just having been mo ved onto a new patch of grass for the day. On the time; so we don’t want to a consulting forester, irrigated ground we’re moving the herd daily and rationing the forage as tightly as overdo it with guests. explained to him what we possible (with a combination of permanent and portable electric fence) without As the days and years go were trying to create, and damaging cattle production. As of press time in late July, our grazing plan is still by, our commitment to and he and I marked all the on track during our area’s worst drought on record. love for our little piece of trees to be removed. For the the world grows stronger past three years, my dad and deeper. My granddad and I (with a small tractor and dad taught me a lot about our land as I was growing up, but I and chainsaw) have been doing all the work—marking, cutting, skidding, notice new details of nature’s patterns every day. They are things and decking. We have a man with a self-loading truck to haul them to I’ve been looking at all my life, but for some reason just never noticed. town. Most go for saw logs for dimension lumber, but now that we have I’m realizing that it’s going to take the rest of my life to really know worked our way through much of the decades of backlogged timber our land, to be able to see it in detail, and to be able to translate those accumulation, we are starting to look for other higher value markets, new insights into practical lessons for better decision-making. Daniela such as house logs for log home construction. We’ve also harvested and and I will try to pass our knowledge onto Savanna (and hopefully a marketed small trees for landscaping and aspen poles for corral and future sibling), and then she’ll be able to build on that foundation fence construction. as she matures and potentially takes over the ranch (if that’s what Our last and most lucrative (for the time it takes) money-making she chooses). enterprise is our hunting business. We have outstanding populations of The way I see it, that sort of accumulated knowledge, built upon Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer, and we bring in three groups of through the generations, is essential. It’s the sort of knowledge that hunters during the fall rifle seasons. Our hunters are all good sportsmen, bonds human beings to the soils, grasses, trees, bugs, birds, and beasts they are meat hunters first, and they have a strong environmental ethic. from which they derive their sustenance. It is that knowing, that loving, They share our values, and “our place” is becoming “their place” as well. that yields a sense of place.

They come for a complete outdoor experience in a pristine environment,

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Persistence Pays

by Jim Howell

A

s a young man at the age of 23, Guy Glosson found himself in an enviable position. He was working for Double T Ranches near Ozona, Texas, and had one of those rare hands-off bosses that believe young guys learn the most when they’re freed up to make lots of mistakes. This boss was J. Cleo Thompson, and during his 10 years under Mr. Thompson’s tutelage, Guy cut his teeth figuring out how to manage big herds of cattle grazing under high density planned grazing in some of the world’s more ecologically challenging grassland.

Now, after 14 more years of learning on Mesquite Grove Ranch, owned by Buddy Baldridge and family near Clairmont, Texas (50 miles north of Snyder, in the lower panhandle), Guy has been rewarded with one of those rare acknowledgments most middle-aged men only dream about. He and Buddy and Mesquite Grove Ranch have been named winners of the “Lone Star Land Stewardship Award for the Rolling Plains Region of Texas,” awarded by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife. Most winners of such awards typically own or manage ranches that are heavily subsidized—either by infusions of capital from the owner’s outside businesses or investments, or in the form of generous government programs that fund water, fence, and wildlife habitat projects. According to Guy, “we haven’t taken any of that.” Everything the ranch has accomplished has been generated from the ranch itself, making it a unique recipient of an award most commonly granted to government cooperators.

So how did that happen? It turns out that one of Texas Parks and Wildlife’s principal areas of activity is conducting Bobwhite quail and deer counts during the fall. After years of driving by Mesquite Grove, the area biologist finally had to admit there was something drastically different about those It’s always easy to get 36,000 acres (14,570 ha) over-confident and a at the headwaters of the Brazos River. While little sassy when Mother the quail and grass Nature is so obviously were scarce just about everywhere else, the on your side.

Baldridge place had coveys of quail flushing out of healthy tall grass prairie. The area biologist decided he had to get to the bottom of this mystery, so he tracked down Guy to find out what was going on.

The result has been a good working relationship with Texas Parks and Wildlife ever since, culminating with the recent award and statewide recognition for excellence in managing for abundant wildlife habitat.

Good Years vs. Learning Years In 1981, while working at the Double T, Guy met Allan Savory.

That encounter initiated a 21-year learning curve that Guy admits he’s still ascending, but he’s a long way from where he started. Along the way, Guy found time to qualify himself as a Certified Educator in Holistic Management. Those early years of his land management

education were marked by some pretty good weather years—meaning generous arrivals of well-timed precipitation. It’s always easy to get over-confident and a little sassy when Mother Nature is so obviously on your side. Those good years bring lots of grass, fat cattle, great reconception rates, increased ground cover, and healthy bank accounts, especially with a little holistic planning thrown in.

For his first five years on Mesquite Grove, rainfall was above normal, cattle prices were at their peak, and the land was visibly recovering from over a century of abuse. The ranch had pushed numbers up to 1,300 mother cows by 1997 (from a recommended stocking rate of 450), in addition to several hundred head of yearling replacement heifers.

Then came the dry year of ‘93, followed by another one in ‘94, this time accompanied by a crash in cattle prices. The dry years have continued since, and cattle prices stayed in the basement through ‘98.

In ‘98, the rain gauge measured a scant 7 inches, or 125 mm (out of the normal 18 inches, or 460 mm), and things were getting pretty tough.

Guy sent the yearlings off the ranch to lighten grass demand, eventually scattering them across five states.

Certified Educator Guy Glosson manages the But they still had Mesquite Grove Ranch, which earlier this year too many cows was awarded the “Lone Star Land Ste wardship at home and, Award for the Rolling Plains Region of Texas” according to Guy, by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife.

“We kept them too long.” They sold down to 500 cows that winter, and completely sold out the following spring. When conditions finally improved, they restocked with outside cattle and are now back to 700 head, and have stayed at that level since 1999 (still 50 percent more than the recommended rate).

Monitoring is Critical Animal impact is a critical component of healthy land in brittletending environments, but when a zest for creating impact leads to overstocking and bone-thin beasts licking litter up off the ground, the animals suffer, the land suffers, the bank account suffers, and the people desperately trying to make it all work really suffer. Stocking rate, animal impact, and animal performance have to be carefully balanced, and the only way to really know if that balance is being successfully attained is through careful monitoring of a well-conceived grazing plan.

Newcomers to holistic planned grazing frequently fail to adequately monitor (or even plan in the first place), or at least fail to react appropriately to what their monitoring is telling them. It seems that continued on page 12

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Persistence Pays

continued from page 11

pretty well fenced into about 25 pastures, but stock water severely limited herd size and effective grazing planning. Pasture numbers have increased to about 40, but the main focus has been the development most of us have to suffer through at least a couple wrecks before we of an extensive stock watering plan to alleviate this bottleneck to learn to control and replan so things don’t fall apart on us. Seasoned improved grazing planning. All the poor producing, high maintenance managers understand this, and monitor carefully should adjustments wells have been abandoned, and the ranch now relies on one reliable or complete replanning become necessary. water source at the bottom of a 350-foot (107 m) well. Twenty miles After 20-plus years of planning and replanning, Guy, now 47, is of 2-inch (50 mm) pipe radiate out from this well, delivering a well and truly seasoned. Since backing off to 700 head, the ranch has voluminous supply of water to most corners of the ranch out and turned a profit every year, and even though abundant rainfall has away from the riparian areas.

Grazing planning centers on the management of the two unique stayed scarce, the ranch is rebounding ecologically from those dry, ecotypes--the harder, bottom mesquite ground, and the lighter, sandy, overstocked years in the ‘90s. The springs that began flowing in the shinnery uplands. The most significant rainfall in this part of Texas good early years are still flowing, despite the low precipitation. Eastern comes in the spring during March, April, and May. The native prairie gamagrass, a broad-leaved, super-productive native warm season grasses, being warm season perennials, will start to green up with the perennial, is establishing vigorously along the ranch’s riparian areas— rains, but don’t really take an incredible event, given off until June, when the that conventional wisdom mercury really starts to says eastern gamagrass rise. The shinnery ground “doesn’t grow in that contains the best tall part of Texas.” grass prairie component, Geography and so that’s where the cows go beginning May 1.

Ecology The oak is poisonous Geographically, this when budding throughout chunk of the Lone Star most of April, so they state is at the southern can’t go there till then edge of the original tall anyway. grass prairie belt of the The cattle stay on North American Great the shinnery all the way Plains. The native grasses through December, when are dominated by a wide the frost has taken most array of the productive of the punch out of the bluestems, in addition native prairie grasses. to sand lovegrass, tall During their time on dropseed, and sand the sandy uplands, Guy paspalum—all productive manages with recovery warm-season perennial periods ranging from natives. These grasses are 60-120 days. Most pastures Buddy Baldridge standing in a patch of eastern gamagrass which, according to the especially prevalent on are cattle-free during the experts, “shouldn’t be growing” in his part of Texas but is flourishing on the Mesquite the upland sandy areas growing season peak, and Grove Ranch. of the ranch, which also many don’t get grazed at support abundant thickets all during the growing of shinnery oak, a brushy form of oak found throughout much of season, especially if growth rates are slow due to scarce rain and the interior West. exceedingly hot temperatures.

In addition to the upland shinnery country, the ranch also contains The rest of the ranch in the mesquite bottoms is used during the nearly 13,000 acres (5,260 ha) of low-lying riparian country along the winter and early spring months. The gramma grasses, which are Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River, and along Butte Creek, prevalent in this area, hold their value better through the winter than which drains into the Salt Fork of the Brazos. These areas are the bluestems, and the mesquite pods deposited from the previous characterized by a much heavier soil type, and are dominated by summer provide a valuable protein and highly digestible energy source. mesquite, a brushy legume that has taken over much of Texas. The To avoid stressing plants during the slow growth period in the early same tall grass prairie species can be found in these lower reaches of spring, Guy plans to graze different pastures in successive years during the ranch, but so can a wide diversity of less productive but higher March and April, when most of the grasses are starting to green up quality gramma grasses. with spring rains. He says it’s not always possible logistically, but he does the best he can. The cattle move through this country till the first Grazing Planning Basics of May, when the shinnery is safe to go back onto.

When Guy took over management in 1988, the ranch was already These mesquite bottoms are in rough, broken country. The tough

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terrain poses a difficult management challenge, but Guy, being a long time practitioner of Bud Williams-style stockmanship, is up to the task.

Guy says he usually “has the pleasure of working by myself,” which means the cattle have to be worked right. The correct positioning and the appropriate amount and timing of pressure are critical if one guy expects to move several hundred rangy cows out of several thousand acres of brushy breaks along the Brazos.

The Mesquite Challenge

this point.” The inability to water herds of 10,000 animals is the main practical barrier, but so is the independent mentality of most Texas ranchers. Bringing together herds of different ownership, and running them across ranchlands under diverse ownership, just isn’t realistic today. If the will was there, however, imagine the stockwater systems that each producer could develop with $450,000 apiece! The capacity to water large herds could be developed incredibly quickly, and the root cause of the mesquite invasion—overrest of the plants and soil surface— could be sustainably addressed. Fossil-fuel-burning bulldozers could be replaced with bison-mimicking, dunging and urinating, proteinproducing livestock.

The rough nature of the country isn’t the only difficulty. The mesquite itself poses a major management dilemma. Most of central Texas’ overrested ranges are plagued with an infestation of this brushy Income Diversification legume. Millions and millions of dollars have been spent in eradication efforts, but there remains more than ever. Millions more have recently In addition to the custom grazing enterprise, Mesquite Grove Ranch been earmarked by the federal government in the new farm bill—up also generates substantial income from hunting. During Bobwhite quail to $450,000 per producer in Guy’s part of Texas! season (this part of Texas is one of the last remaining strongholds of The main problem (from the government’s point of view) is the Bobwhite), 20,000 acres of the ranch is leased to three different the mesquite’s incessant groups, each of which thirst for Texas’ scarce pays $3-$5/acre. These water, combined with a groups have a strong burgeoning population conservation ethic, and in east Texas. East Texas are committed to hunting needs the water, and the in line with the ranch’s mesquites of Texas’ strong wildlife values. western half are allegedly The ranch also sells sucking it all up before it deer hunts. Whitetail can recharge major river deer are abundant on flows. Mesquite Grove the shinnery country.

Ranch, being located at the They’ve at least doubled headwaters of the Brazos in number since Guy River, is right in one of took over 14 years ago. those critical spots.

On the harder riparian Guy admits it’s a country, mule deer are major problem, and his common. The deer are experience tells him that sold by the head. One just controlling the time guide service is allotted and timing of grazing to 10 head per year, while minimize overgrazing of the rest are allocated to grass plants isn’t enough to individual hunters at Luxuriant growth of perennial grass along one of the ranch’s riparian areas. control mesquite. Tim $1,500 each. You can do McGaffic, a friend of Guy’s the math, but between and fellow Certified the quail and the deer, Educator and low-stress stock handler, figures that it takes an enormous that’s a pretty lucrative income from a self-propagating, 100 percent amount of energy to suppress mesquite. Before European immigrants renewable (if managed wisely) natural resource. arrived in central Texas, massive herds of migrating bison supplied this After 14 years on Mesquite Grove Ranch, Guy Glosson feels he’s got energy source. Today we have resorted to bulldozers, but that’s a pretty good handle on what it takes to run a holistically sound central expensive as heck.

Texas ranch. His combined experiences from both the good and bad Can cattle fill the same role as the bison? Guy believes they can, but years have yielded a realistic perspective from all three points of view— not under the current economic and herd management structure that ecological, economic, and social. The learning continues, however, and typifies Texas ranching. With 700 cattle on 36,000 acres, Guy says he probably will never stop. A big challenge still to be addressed is would have to make a daily effort to stir up the cattle with stock dogs to mesquite management. Guy knows what needs to happen—figuring out create significant patches of herd effect. Since the ranch can only afford how to make it happen will consume much of the remainder of Guy’s one manager/laborer, and since Guy is usually lined out with plenty of career. I once heard Guy quoted as saying “the most significant factor of urgent daily jobs to accomplish, heading out to create herd effect with success is the right attitude and the right intention.” Thankfully, leaders the dogs usually doesn’t happen. like Guy are addressing these issues with the right attitude and intention.

“Ideally,” says Guy, “we would run 10,000 cattle on here through the Congratulations, Guy, on your recent award and well-deserved winter. That’s what this country needs, but it’s just not feasible to do at recognition. Keep up the good work.

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Savory Center Forum Lessons Learned Down Under

M

y connection with the Savory Center goes back to 1994, when I became a member of the first Certified Educator Training Program. Prior to that time, I had already been exposed to some of Allan Savory’s thinking by reading the textbook, and I struggled to understand what Allan really was saying. I somehow knew it was personally important that I work out the answer for myself.

Very quickly I recognized the real importance of this work for me. While teaching Holistic Management was rewarding, one of the main reasons I became involved on a broader level was because of the social obligations. As I understood the root cause of a problem yet was continuously confronted by the symptoms, I wanted to create the most influence I humanly could to bring about change. As the number of “Down-Under” Certified Educators increased each year, I reasoned that although we were each conducting our own private businesses, there would be greater potential strength and influence amongst us if our energies could be focused toward this common purpose.

Yet it took an unimaginable degree of effort by every one of us who has passed through the Certified Educator Training Program before we finally were able to create an effective association many years later. Only now can I actually sit back and reason why we had this most difficult period, which actually tested some of our educator-to-educator relationships to near breaking point. So what did we do?

Decision Makers are Key We first developed a loose coalition of Certified Educators who were already on the scene in 1996 and then added to that as others came into the Certified Educator Training Program. This was perhaps our first, although well intentioned, mistake because we were geographically spread over vast distances, and several of us had young families to consider.

All the Educators had small businesses (some in infant stage) owned by themselves and their equally important decision-making spouses, so we were spread thin for time and resources as well. My wife, Suzie, and I were no exception.

14 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #85

Combined, these circumstances made it physically difficult to get all of the actual decision makers together.

One of the first crises we faced as a group was a serious threat to the integrity of our work and to our businesses in Australia, by people seeking to seize our words and much of Allan Savory’s intellectual property, with no apparent grasp of their deeper meaning. We negotiated with the Savory Center and found a way to protect our turf from the pirates. That was our next mistake. We focused on what we didn’t want rather than what we did want.

We staggered along for several years, trying to work out how to administer the license we had negotiated. That was really difficult in many ways. At first we could not identify a suitable legal structure. In addition, some of us— including me--were still focused on protecting ourselves as educators. We couldn’t agree on our real function, much less agree about the process by which we would move forward.

Looking back, I still think the root cause lay in the fact we didn’t have all of the important decision makers on board.

Indeed, if I had to describe the single most important learning for me over the last few years, I would say, “always make sure there aren’t people with some form of veto power either lurking unrecognized within a whole, or not included at all.” In many cases, when viewed conventionally, neither they nor others would have reason to even suspect these people should be labeled as “veto-ists.” They would rightly be deeply offended at the assertion. But when you begin to manage holistically you need to look more deeply at people’s place in your whole. I believe that had we found better ways to involve spouses who were business partners, we would have moved forward faster. During this time, we also had an experience in New South Wales, developing a learning site. We learned that individuals who ‘sign up,’ but are not committed to the statement of purpose and holistic goal, can quickly and fatally derail the purposes and direction of the group, especially when they control the checkbook.

Design = Direction On the positive side we did achieve a lot during this time. From my perspective, one of the key things we always needed to do was develop a “Down-Under” profile for Allan. His reputation had preceded him. All the rural

commentators across the country wrote about this “difficult and obstinate person from Africa with radical ideas about land and stock management.” From my perspective, mis-information was abundant and dangerous.

Several of us underwrote a couple of conferences, and invited the difficult African into our midst. In fact, the Holistic Management “movement” received a great deal of beneficial publicity at that time. In part this was aided by the passage of time. We now had quite a number of practitioners that people would label “successful.” Looking back I think these conferences were financially risky to the underwriters, but critically important in assisting practitioners make change socially and ecologically and help shift the larger public’s perspective.

During 2000 a couple of things happened that will forever change Holistic Management Down Under. The first was we realized we were focusing on the wrong outcome. As Stephen Covey says, we were in the wrong forest. We realized our emphasis should be practitioner focused not focused on getting additional educators because we had already achieved a critical mass of educators.

We had also created a large practitioner base that needed ongoing support and nourishment, so everything we developed from here should fulfill this objective. Concurrently Paul Griffiths, acting as the Chairman of our loose Certified Educator group, identified a suitable new legal structure that had become available—an Association, which is at the same time a not-for-profit Corporation with limited membership liability. With that formed, we believe we have the right structure to serve us on the work ahead.

I have a vision of our nations being biologically and financially amazing. I do not think that the government can ever achieve that outcome, so there is only one place left to work, and that is with individuals. My “day job” at the moment is about empowering individuals, so the y can believe in their hearts and minds they are important. The value of a group under-pinned by the right structure is that together they can touch millions of others with less individual effort. What I want to see is the “power of one” magnified millions of times. Our Association will succeed if these millions are individually achieving sound outcomes. We will have failed if they must continue to conform to other people’s goals.

Bruce Ward Milsons Pt., NSW Australia

Savory Center Bulletin Board Meet Lee Dueringer

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e’re pleased to announce that Lee Dueringer joined us the end of May as Director of Development.

He brings with him a variety of skills we’ve lacked, a tremendous amount of drive and enthusiasm, and a can do attitude that keeps the rest of us on our toes.

He has eight years experience in the development field, having served as development director for the Lee Dueringer Foundation Fighting Blindness in Owings Mills, Maryland, the J. Kyle Braid Leadership Foundation in Villa Grove, Colorado, and more recently as a development consultant and campaign director for the Dorris Marketing Group, Washington, DC. One of the things we were looking for in a development director was an agricultural background. Not easy to find, but Lee had it in spades. He was raised on a Central Illinois grain and livestock farm that has been in his family since 1900 and still is today. He majored in Agriculture Education at Illinois State University and graduated in 1965.

Shortly after college he went to work for Elanco (Eli Lilly’s animal

NC SARE Grant

T

he 2002 North Central Region—USDA— Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program recently awarded $146,300 for a three year project entitled “Professional Development—Holistic Management Training.” This proposal was submitted

by Ben Bartlett, DVM, Michigan State University.

Dr. Bartlett contacted us during the summer of 2001 regarding the possibility of a North Central Region Holistic Management® Certified Educator Training Program. During the planning stages of this project we had very strong support from the SARE State Professional Development Program Coordinators, our Certified Educators in the region and individuals from Natural Resources Conservation Service, Cooperative Extension Service and nonprofit organizations serving the farming and ranching community throughout the North Central States.

The North Central Region SARE funding will support ten agricultural professionals working in the North Central Region. Our

health division) as a sales manager and spent the next 28 years moving up the ranks and from place to place--including, Indianapolis, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, and Syracuse (New York)--until he took early retirement in 1993.

All those years spent in conventional agriculture and working with major ag biz corporations have given him a good understanding of the mindset of the players and how we might best influence them in terms of our own marketing efforts, as well as our development activities. Lee says he was attracted to the Savory Center because of a long-term interest in whole farm planning, our focus on family farmers and ranchers, where his own roots are, and our efforts to keep rural communities thriving. He wants, as development director, to make us even more successful—and we are confident he will succeed.

Over the years, Lee has volunteered his time and leadership to a number of associations, including his alma mater’s alumni association, the National Agri-Marketing Association and the Delta Sigma Phi national fraternity and its foundation, serving as president of all of them at one time or another. His experience in this arena was invaluable and has only added to his ability to establish meaningful relationships with diverse groups of people—and to feel as comfortable in blue jeans as he does in a corporate boardroom.

We hope you’ll get a chance to meet Lee in person and encourage you to get in touch with him if you have ideas to share, contacts he should pursue, or just want to chat. He’d love to hear from you.

program capacity is 18. The first residency of the program is scheduled to begin in early December of this year. If you would like more details or are interested in becoming part of the North Central Region Holistic Management® Certified Educator Training Program, please contact as soon as possible one of the following people: Ben Bartlett at bartlett@msue.msu.edu or 906/439-5880; Kelly Pasztor at kellyp@holisticmanagement.org or 505/842-5252; or Mary Child at maryc@holisticmanagement.org or 304/249-5999.

Growing New Farmers’ Grant

T

he Savory Center recently received a $10,000 award from the Growing New Farmers Consortium initiative for Access to Knowledge and Decision-Making Tools to document Holistic Management case studies. Growing New Farmers (www.northeastnewfarmer.org) is a project of the New England Small Farm Institute of Massachusetts.

Our two-year project begins this summer and will document case studies of new

farmers in the learning communities of the participants in the 2001 Northeast Region Holistic Management® Certified Educator Training Program. The case studies will include how they began to learn and practice Holistic Management and what challenges they addressed and changes they have realized in: (1) their quality of life; (2) their finances; (3) improving their social and community resources; and (4) improving the surrounding land and environment.

Hard copies will be made available through project collaborators. An online version of the new farmers case studies will appear on the websites of: Growing New Farmers (GNF), GNF consortium members, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), project collaborators and the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management. If you would like more information regarding this project, please contact Jody Butterfield at jodyb@holisticmanagement.org or 505/842-5252; Preston Sullivan at prestons@ncatark.uark.edu or 497/442-9824; or Mary Child at maryc@holisticmanagement.org or 304/249-5999.

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2002 15

Devil’s Spring Ranch Project

L

and Renewal, Inc., the Savory Center’s forprofit subsidiary, is working with ranchers Don and Jane Schreiber as part of an effort to address the cumulative effect that the oil industry is having on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) allotments in the San Juan Basin.

This project began when the Schreibers asked Land Renewal, Inc. to help rectify a problem they were having with a local oil company. The Schreibers ranch 2,700 acres of BLM land in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico. The five millionacre basin produces 10 percent of the nation’s natural gas and has about 20,000 producing wells, several dozen of which are on the Schreiber’s Devil’s Spring allotment. The Schreibers are concerned about the cumulative effect of the wells, access roads, and pipeline right of ways on the overall health of the land as well as the effects of overrest, partial rest, overgrazing, and disappearing wildlife habitat.

The Schriebers are not alone in their concerns—tensions are rising among ranchers, regulators, and oil companies in the San Juan Basin with the projected addition of 400 new wells each year for the next 20 years. Opting for collaboration over confrontation, they enlisted Land Renewal, Inc to work with the BLM and the oil company on a pilot project to revegetate well sites and to improve grazing conditions on federal land. The parties agree that conventional revegetation methods do not work in New Mexico and that it is time to cooperate and find a new approach to the problem.

Land Renewal, Inc uses the Holistic Management® model in the planning and development of their reclamation projects.

The Devil’s Spring Ranch project will set the example of how industry, regulators, and citizens can work together to achieve sustainable environmental quality, and it will establish a framework that can be used in similar situations across the San Juan Basin.

Texas Environmental Award

T

he Mesquite Grove Ranch near Snyder, Texas recently won the 7th Annual Lone Star Land Stewards Award presented by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (see

16 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #85

story on page 11). The Mesquite Grove Ranch is owned by Buddy and Bonnie Baldridge and managed by Holistic Management ® Certified Educator Guy Glosson. Mesquite Grove Ranch was recognized for their innovative management and holistic approach. Their management practices has improved the overall productivity of the ranch, as well as increased biodiversity in plants and animals, including the rare Texas horned lizard. They also have old springs flowing again as the water cycle improves. Congratulations to the Baldridges and Guy.

Rio Puerco Project

T

he Savory Center recently received $10,000 from the Bureau of Land Management for our work with Tree New Mexico in the Rio Puerco Watershed.

The Rio Puerco Management Committee (RPMC) was established by public law in 1996 to carry out a broad-based collaborative effort to restore and manage the Rio Puerco watershed in northwest New Mexico because it is so severely degraded and the soil erosion surpasses that of any other watershed in the country.

As part of the larger RPMC efforts to restore the health of the Rio Puerco, the Savory Center is collaborating with Tree New Mexico and the Jackson Gibson ranch on a Holistic Management learning site. The Jackson Gibson ranch is near Thoreau, New Mexico on the Navajo Nation within the Rio Puerco watershed.

The Savory Center will provide training and assistance in baseline biological monitoring, grazing planning, and land planning. The initial plan is currently being developed but the project will run for five to ten years with an annual collection of data, which includes family history, management practices, soil stability factors, water infiltration tests, vegetation species composition and frequency, litter, cover, wildlife species, etc.

This project will also extend to the local community, the Thoreau Navajo Chapter, and other Navajo Chapters, to share learning from the Gibson ranch with others within the Navajo Nation and within the Rio Puerco watershed. At least two workshops are planned, based on community interest, to share this information.

Southern Africa Certification Program

C

ommunity Dynamics, the Southern Africa Educator Association, is working hard to accumulate information and statistics from Holistic Management practitioners to provide the “proof/results” needed to extend and promote the growth of Holistic Management in Southern Africa. In particular they are looking for a format through which they can provide some sort of practitioner accreditation for those who are using the Holistic Management® decision making framework and following the principles underlying Holistic Management.

The current structure they are considering is to send out a questionnaire to all participating practitioners to gather their monitoring information from the last two years. They would put this information into a computer program and then evaluate each business or enterprise in terms of its holistic goal to determine certification, which could then be used for marketing products as having been produced “holistically” (i.e., sustainably and not just organic or free range). They already have one chain store interested in marketing their beef in this manner.

Outreach Efforts

P

lease make a note in your calendar for a Refresher Course with Allan Savory on November 1, 2002 at the Richards Ranch in Jacksboro, Texas. This course will be sponsored by HRM of Texas. For more information contact Christina Allday-Bondy at 512/441-2019 or tododia@peoplepc.com.

Thanks to Betsy and Reeves Brown for hosting the Colorado Branch’s Annual Ranch Tour on July 20th at their 10,000-acre 3R Ranch near Beulah, Colorado. Colorado Branch President Cindy Dvergsten said it was one of the best ranch tours she’s been on and that the Brown’s hospitality was awesome.

Thanks also to Terry Gompert in Center, Nebraska for organizing “A Day with Allan Savory” on July 17th. Over 70 Nebraska graziers took the opportunity to learn more about Holistic Management and get a chance to have some of their questions answered

by Allan Savory.

Certified Educators To our knowledge, Certified Educators are the best qualified individuals to help others learn to practice Holistic Management and to provide them with technical assistance when necessary. On a yearly basis, Certified Educators renew their agreement to be affiliated with the Center. This agreement requires their commitment to practice Holistic Management in their own lives, to seek out opportunities for staying current with the latest developments in Holistic Management and to maintain a high standard of ethical conduct in their work.

For more information about or application forms for the U.S., Africa, or International Certified Educator Training Programs, contact Kelly Pasztor at the Savory Center or visit our website at www.holisticmanagement.org/wwo_certed.cfm? ❖ These Educators provide Holistic Management instruction on behalf of the institutions they represent.

UNITED STATES ARKANSAS Preston Sullivan P.O. Box 4483 Fayetteville, AR 72702 479/443-0609; 479/442-9824 (w) prestons@ncatark.uark.edu CALIFORNIA Monte Bell 325 Meadowood Dr Orland, CA 95963 530/865-3246; mbell@glenncounty.net Julie Bohannon 652 Milo Terrace Los Angeles, CA 90042 323/257-1915 JoeBoCom@pacbell.net Bill Burrows 12250 Colyear Springs Rd. Red Bluff, CA 96080 530/529-1535; burrows@cwnet.com Jeff Goebel P.O. Box 1252 Willows, CA 95988 530/321-9855; 530/934-4601 x101 (w) goebel@palouse.net Richard King 1675 Adobe Rd. Petaluma, CA 94954 707/769-1490; 707/794-8692 (w) rking@ca.nrcs.usda.gov Christopher Peck P.O. Box 2286 Sebastopol, CA 95472 707/758-0171 ctopherp@holistic-solutions.net COLORADO Cindy Dvergsten 17702 County Rd. 23 Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-4222; cindydv@reanet.net Rio de la Vista P.O. Box 777 Monte Vista, CO 81144 970/731-9659; riovista@rmi.net Daniela Howell 63066 Jordan Ct. Montrose, CO 81401 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net

Tim McGaffic P.O. Box 476 Ignacio, CO 81137 310/821-4027; tim@timmcgaffic.com Chadwick McKellar 16775 Southwood Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80908 719/495-4641; cmckellar@juno.com Chandler McLay P.O. Box 262 Dolores, CO 81323 970/882-8802 mcchand@msn.com Byron Shelton 33900 Surrey Lane Buena Vista, CO 81211 719/395-8157; landmark@my.amigo.net IOWA Bill Casey

1800 Grand Ave. Keokuk, IA 52632-2944 319/524-5098 wpccasey@interl.net LOUISIANA Tina Pilione P.O. 923, Eunice, LA 70535 phone/fax: 337/580-0068 tinap@bbs.whodat.net MINNESOTA Terri Goodfellow-Heyer 4660 Cottonwood Lane N Plymouth, MN 55442 612/559-0099 terri.heyer@mrusa.com Larry Johnson RR 1, Box 93A Winona, MN 55987-9738 507/457-9511; 507/523-2171 (w) lpjohn@rconnect.com MONTANA Wayne Burleson RT 1, Box 2780 Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808; rutbuster@montana.net

❖ Cliff Montagne Montana State University Department of Land Resources & Environmental Science Bozeman, MT 59717 406/994-5079; montagne@montana.edu

NEW MEXICO ❖ Ann Adams The Savory Center 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252 anna@holisticmanagement.org

Kate Brown Box 581, Ramah, NM 87321 505/783-4711; kbrown@nedcomm.nm.org Amy Driggs 1131 Los Tomases NW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/242-2787 adriggs@orbusinternational.com Kirk Gadzia P.O. Box 1100, Bernalillo, NM 87004 505/867-4685; fax: 505/867-0262 kgadzia@earthlink.net Ken Jacobson 12101 Menaul Blvd. NE, Ste A Albuquerque, NM 87112 505/293-7570; kbjacobson@orbusinternational.com ❖ Kelly Pasztor The Savory Center 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 505/842-5252; kellyp@holisticmanagement.org

Sue Probart P.O. Box 81827 Albuquerque, NM 87198 505/265-4554 tnm@treenm.com David Trew 369 Montezuma Ave. #243 Santa Fe, NM 87501 505/751-0471 trewearth@aol.com Vicki Turpen 03 El Nido Amado SW Albuquerque, NM 87121 505/873-0473;mvt9357@aol.com NORTH CAROLINA Sam Bingham 394 Vanderbilt Rd. Asheville, NC 28803 828/274-1309 sbingham@igc.org NORTH DAKOTA ❖ Wayne Berry University of North Dakota—Williston, P.O. Box 1326, Williston, ND 58802 701/774-4269 or 701/774-4200 wayne.berry@wsc.nodak.edu

OHIO

Roland Kroos 4926 Itana Circle Bozeman, MT 59715 406/388-1003; KROOSING@aol.com

❖ Deborah Stinner Department of Entomology OARDC 1680 Madison Hill Wooster, OH 44691 330/202-3534 (w); stinner.2@osu.edu

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2002 17

OKLAHOMA Kim Barker RT 2, Box 67, Waynoka, OK 73860 580/824-9011 barker_k@hotmail.com OREGON Joel Benson 613 Fordyce St., Ashland, OR 97520 541/488-9630; ytka@jeffnet.org Cindy Douglas 2795 McMillian St. Eugene, OR 97405 541/465-4882; cdouglas@omri.org TEXAS Christina Allday-Bondy 2703 Grennock Dr. Austin, TX 78745 512/441-2019 ; tododia@peoplepc.com Guy Glosson 6717 Hwy 380, Snyder, TX 79549 806/237-2554 cowdog@caprock-spur.com

❖ R.H. (Dick) Richardson University of Texas at Austin Department of Integrative Biology Austin, TX 7871 2 512/471-4128 d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu

❖ Don Nelson Washington State University P.O. Box 646310 Pullman, WA 99164 509/335-2922 nelsond@wsu.edu

Peggy Sechrist 25 Thunderbird Rd. Fredericksburg, TX 78624 830/990-2529 peggy@fgb.net

Lois Trevino P.O. Box 615 Nespelem, WA 99155 509/634-4410; 509/634-2430 (w) lmerita@televar.com

WASHINGTON Craig Madsen P.O. Box 107, Edwall, WA 99008 509/236-2451 madsen2fir@mindspring.com Sandra Matheson 228 E. Smith Rd. Bellingham, WA 98226 360/398-7866 smm1@gte.net

Doug Warnock 151 Cedar Cove Rd. Ellensburg, WA 98926 509/925-9127 warnockd@ elltel.net WYOMING Miles Keogh 450 N. Adams Ave Buffalo, WY 82834 307/684-0532 mkeogh@trib.com

INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA Helen Carrell “Hillside” 25 Weewondilla Rd. Glennie Heights, Warwick, QLD 4370 61-4-1878-5285; 61-7-4661-7383 helenc@upfrontoutback,com Steve Hailstone 5 Lampert Rd., Crafers, SA 5152 61-4-1882-2212 shailstone@internode.on.net Graeme Hand 162 Hand and Associates Port Fairy, VIC 3284 61-3-5568-2158 gshand@hotkey.net.au Mark Gardner P.O. Box 1395, Dubbo, NSW 2830 61-2-6882-0605 gardnerm@ozemail.com.au Brian Marshall “Lucella”; Nundle, NSW 2340 61-2-6769 8226; fax: 61-2-6769 8223 bkmrshl@northnet.com.au Bruce Ward P.O. Box 103, Milsons Pt., NSW 1565 61-2-9929-5568; fax: 61-2-9929-5569 blward@holisticresults.com.au Brian Wehlburg c/o “Sunnyholt”, Injue, QLD 4454 61-7-4626-7187 ijapo2000@yahoo.com CANADA Don and Randee Halladay Box 2, Site 2, RR 1, Rocky Mountain House, AB T0M 1T0; 403/729-2472 donran@telusplanet.net Noel McNaughton 3438 Point Grey Rd., Vancouver, BC, V6R 1A5 604/736-1552; noelm@telus.net Len Pigott Box 222, Dysart, SK SOH 1HO 306/432-4583 JLPigott@sk.sympatico.ca

18 HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE #85

Kelly Sidoryk Box 374; Lloydminster, AB, S9V 0Y4 403/875-4418 higain@telusplanet.net CHINA/GERMANY Dieter Albrecht Melanchthonstr. 23, D-10557 Berlin 49-30-392 8315 alialb@gmx.net (international) China Agricultural University CIAD Office, Beijing 100094 86-10-6289 1061 GHANA Arne Vanderburg U.S. Embassy, Accra, Dept. of State Washington, D.C. 20521-2020 233-21-772131; 233-21-773831 (w) asvanderb@hotmail.com MEXICO Ivan Aguirre La Inmaculada Apdo. Postal 304, Hermosillo, Sonora 83000 52-637-78929; fax: 52-637-10031 rancho_inmaculada@yahoo.com Elco Blanco-Madrid Cristobal de Olid #307, Chihuahua Chih., 31030 52-14-415-3497; fax: 52-14-415-3175 elco-blanco@hotmail.com

NEW ZEALAND John King P.O. Box 3440, Richmond, Nelson 64-3-544-0369 Joking@clear.net.nz SOUTH AFRICA Johan Blom P.O. Box 568, Graaf-Reinet 6280 27-49-891-0163 j&tblom@eastcape.net Ian Mitchell-Innes P.O. Box 52, Elandslaagte 2900 27-36-421-1747 blanerne@mweb.co.za Norman Neave Box 141, Mtubatuba 3935 27-35-5504150 norboom@saol.com Dick Richardson P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-53-927-4367 judyrich@cybertrade.co.za ZIMBABWE Mutizwa Mukute PELUM Association Regional Desk P.O. Box MP 1059 Mount Pleasant, Harare 263-4-74470/744117 fax: 263-4-744470 pelum@mail.pci.co.zw

Manuel Casas-Perez Calle Amarguva No. 61, Lomas Herradura Huixquilucan, Mexico City CP 52785 52-558-291-3934; 52-558-992-0220 (w)

Liberty Mabhena Spring Cabinet P.O. Box 853, Harare 263-4-210021/2; 263-4-210577/8 fax: 263-4-210273

NAMIBIA Gero Diekmann P.O. Box 363, Okahandja 9000 264-62-518091 nam00132@mweb.com.na

Sister Maria Chiedza Mutasa Bandolfi Convent P.O. Box 900, Masvingo 263-39-7699, 263-39-7530

Wiebke Volkmann P.O. Box 182, Otavi, 067-23-44-48; keilberg@mweb.com.na

Elias Ncube P. Bag 5950, Victoria Falls 263-3-454519 rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw

Local Networks

There are several branch organizations or groups affiliated with the Center in the U.S. and abroad (some publish their own newsletters.) We encourage you to contact the group closest to you:

United States CALIFORNIA Holistic Management of California Tom Walther, newsletter editor 5550 Griffin St., Oakland, CA 94605 510/530-6410 tagjag@ aol.com COLORADO Colorado Branch of the Center For Holistic Management Jim and Daniela Howell newletter editors 1661 Sonoma Court, Montrose, CO 81401 970/249-0353 howelljd@montrose.net GEORGIA Constance Neely SANREM CRSP 1422 Experiment Station Rd. Watkinsville, GA 30677 706/769-3792 cneely@arches.uga.edu IDAHO National Learning Site Linda Hestag 3743 King Mountain Rd. Darlington, ID 83255 208/588-2693; mackay@atcnet.net

MONTANA Beartooth Management Club Wayne Burleson RT 1, Box 2780, Absarokee, MT 59001 406/328-6808rutbuster@montana.net NEW YORK Regional Farm & Food Project Tracy Frisch, contact person 148 Central Ave., 2nd floor Albany, NY 12206 518/427-6537 USDA/NRCS - Central NY RC&D Phil Metzger, contact person 99 North Broad St., Norwich, NY 13815 607/334-3231, ext. 4 phil.metzger@ny.usda.gov NORTHWEST Managing Wholes Peter Donovan 501 South St., Enterprise, OR 97828-1345 541/426-2145 www.managingwholes.com OKLAHOMA Oklahoma Land Stewardship Alliance Charles Griffiths Route 5, Box E44, Ardmore, OK 73401 580/223-7471; cagriffith@brightok.net

Africa Centre for Holistic Management (A subsidiary of the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management since 1992) Board of Trustees

Staff

Allan Savory, Chair Ignatius Ncube, Vice Chair Chief Shana II Chief A Mvutu Councilor Ndubiwa Mary Ncube Lot Ndlovu Emeldah Nkomo (Staff Representative) Elias Ncube (Staff Representative) Osmond Mugweni - Masvingo Hendrik O'Neill - Harare Chief Hwange, ex-officio Chief Nelukoba, ex-officio Chief Nekatambe, ex-officio Sam Brown, Austin, Texas, ex-officio

Huggins Matanga, Director Elias Ncube, Community Programmes Manager Emeldah Nkomo, Village Banking Coordinator Forget Wilson, Office Manager Sylvia Nyakujawa, Bookkeeper Dimbangombe Ranch and Conservation Safaris: Roger Parry, Manager Trish Pullen, Assistant Manager, Catering Richard Nsinganu, Assistant Manager, Safaris Albert Chauke, Ranch Foreman

PENNSYLVANIA Northern Penn Network Jim Weaver, contact person RD #6, Box 205 Wellsboro, PA 16901 717/724-7788 jaweaver@epix.net

TEXAS HRM of Texas Peggy Jones, newsletter editor 101 Hill View Trail Dripping Springs, TX 78620 512/858-4251 delphic@earthlink.net

International AUSTRALIA Holistic Decision Making Association (AUST+NZ) Irene Dasey, Executive Officer P.O. Box 543 Inverell NSW, 2360 tel: 61-2-6721-0255 idasey@hn.ozemail.com.au CANADA Canadian Holistic Management Lee Pengilly Box 216, Stirling, AB, T0K 2E0 403/327-9262 MEXICO Fundación para Fomentar el Manejo Holístico, A.C. Jose Ramon Villar, President Zeus 921, Contry La Escondida,

Guadalupe, NL 67173 tel/fax: 52-8-349-8666 fmh@prodigy.net.mx NAMIBIA Namibia Centre for Holistic Management Anja Denker, contact person P.O. Box 23600 Windhoek 9000 tel/fax: 264-61-230-515 unicorn@iafrica.com.na SOUTH AFRICA South African Centre For Holistic Management Dick & Judy Richardson P.O. Box 1806, Vryburg 8600 tel/fax: 27-53-9274367 judyrich@cybertrade.co.za

Come Visit Us! AT DIMBANGOMBE

We Offer:

• Guided Bush Walks • Horseback Tours • Game-Viewing Drives • Anti-Poaching Patrol Experience • And much more!

In an unforgettable setting with comfy lodging, memorable meals

Private Bag 5950 Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Roger Parry Email: rogpachm@africaonline.co.zw Tel. (263)(11)213 529

www.africansojourn.com HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT IN PRACTICE • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2002 19